Multiple exciting releases from Microsoft today!

1. Visual Studio 2008 BETA 2:  We released Visual Studio 2008 BETA 2 today.  Downloads are available for multiple editions of Visual Studio, including Team Foundation Server at the Visual Studio website - http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio

You can even download Visual Studio Express Editions BETA that have been updated with VS 2008 features at http://msdn.microsoft.com/express

2. Silverlight 1.0 RC:  Silverlight 1.0 moves into its next stage.  The Release Candidate (RC) is a version very close to the final release of Silverlight 1.0 very soon. The RC has some breaking changes from the earlier BETA version released at MIX 07. Read the list on Joe Stegman's blog here. At the time of writing this post, the Silverlight community site has not yet been updated with the RC bits, but it will happen soon - so keep looking out at www.silverlight.net

Silverlight tools for Visual Studio 2008 BETA 2 will also be released enabling developers to have a seamless experience.

3. .NET Framework 3.5 BETA 2:  The .NET Framework 3.5 has also reached a milestone with BETA 2 available now. You can get this with either of the Visual Studio installations and a separate download will also be available soon.

The good news:

• WPF XBAP applications and ClickOnce applications now work with Firefox
• The BETA 2 versions of VS 2008 and .NET Fx 3.5 and the Silverlight RC 1 are all available with a Go-Live license!  So you can start deploying your applications with these technologies now.
• VS 2008 has a full feature release - which means that the BETA 2 will have all of the features planned for VS 2008 - the next releases will only enhance this more
• The Cider designer for WPF and Silverlight in VS 2008 BETA 2 is greatly enhanced
• JavaScript intellisense is available in VS 2008 BETA 2
• Much, much more....

Important points:

• You need to apply a fix for existing projects built with ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 to work fine - if you don't apply the fix, it uses a newer build that ships with VS 2008 and might hence break your application.  Details here.
• If this is the first time you are installing any "Orcas" version, you need to do a post-installation reset for the development environment. Details here.

Do not forget to read Somasegar's and Scott Gu's announcement posts available here and here. 

More stuff coming soon... will keep blogging about these releases.